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From TV To Shining CTV
Political campaigns may (finally) be all in on streaming TV, Notus reports. And it’s terrible news for viewers hoping for a respite.
During the 2020 election, MiQ analyzed broadcast TV data in Arizona to identify 82,000 homes that had yet to be exposed to cable TV political ads. These homes provided an incremental audience pool for the Biden campaign’s CTV outreach.
MiQ also analyzed CTV data in Pennsylvania to identify households bombarded with Trump campaign ads. The Biden campaign counter-programmed those households with its own ads. Some homes were served 163 pro-Trump ads and 73 pro-Biden ads, which demonstrates the intensity of the political CTV investments in swing states.
Other than a few outliers, such as Netflix, streaming platforms are happy to capitalize on the quadrennial windfall of political ad revenue. Roku aired 400 different political ad creatives during the first week of June.
While linear TV still collects more total political ad spend, digital video – led by CTV – is gaining ground fast. According to Cross Screen Media, digital video will receive 37% of political video ad budgets this year, compared to 27% in 2020.
Mastication Vacation
Can gum get unstuck?
Mars Wrigley is betting big with new brand marketing to get people chewing again, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Gum sales have plummeted in 2020 and 2021. Of course, during quarantine, people weren’t dating, and they weren’t in offices or close, crowded places. They had masks on. Who needed gum?
Young consumers also have higher health standards when it comes to additives or artificial sweeteners.
But another element that makes gum a tricky beast in the new economy – and why there are few digital-native gum brands – is that gum is the kind of thing you buy in a store, never online.
If you get a quarter in change, might as well grab a Juicy Fruit. That was a key value prop for Wrigley’s powerhouse brands.
“No one’s found a way to kind of engage people with gum and make it relevant in the way that it was before,” says Nicholas Fereday, a food and consumer analyst at the Dutch bank Rabobank. “Often in food, startups will jump on a declining category and reinvent it. With gum, that never happened.”
Not A Fit
An advertising business can be a saving grace for non-advertising companies. Ask Uber, Netflix, Instacart or Roku, to name a few companies that would be toast otherwise.
But for an ad-free business to be taken over by an advertising company can be a disaster.
It worked for Instagram, and we’ll see with BeReal.
But this is about Fitbit, which Google acquired in 2021. Having mined Fitbit of its data value – Fitbit accounts were all migrated to Google in 2022 – Google quit on the service, writes Ars Technica.
First, Fitbit customers had to set up Google accounts to use devices. Then Google stopped supporting Fitbit’s own advanced software, and last year it killed off popular social networking features.
The latest indignity: Starting in July, Fitbit will shutter its website. The app will be the only interface. And the app lacks functionality currently available on the browser.
But who cares?
I mean, Fitbit customers are “livid,” per Ars Technica’s reviews editor. But that fruit’s been juiced. Google is “mostly focused on making Fitbit an app for the Pixel Watch.”
But Wait, There’s More!
Overheard at the IAB Tech Lab Summit. [Digiday]
Nielsen integrates with LiveRamp for advanced audiences. [B&C]
Albertsons adds closed-loop CTV with Google DV360, The Trade Desk, LiveRamp, FreeWheel, iSpot and Clinch as partners. [release]
Disney debuts new shoppable ad units. [Adweek]
Samsung Ads joins the TV joint industry committee. [Ad Age]
You’re Hired!
AccuWeather names Matt Gillis chief business officer. [release]
